


Will of the Force

by Elektra Pendragon (elekdragon)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Genre: Bonding, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-01-13
Updated: 2002-01-13
Packaged: 2017-10-17 07:27:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/174367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elekdragon/pseuds/Elektra%20Pendragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Qui-Gon bonds with another Jedi, then must break the news to his lover.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Will of the Force

**Author's Note:**

> I never follow the rules. This is a different version of Emu's Plot Challenge. // ... // for thoughts in italics

"I'll only be gone for--at the MOST!--a week, Padawan. You can live without me."

Fingers buried themselves into Qui-Gon's hair, lips trailed over his cheek. For a moment, Qui-Gon let himself be coaxed back into the bed, burying himself in the warm scented neck of his beloved. Then the chrono warbled, announcing that he was going to be late for his transport.

Lifting himself up on his elbows, Qui-Gon smiled down in the flushed face of his Padawan. "You'll hardly miss me. I'll be back in no time, and then we'll have the bonding ceremony, and then nothing will ever keep us apart again."

"I don't want you to go yet."

He was pouting. Qui-Gon couldn't resist his lover when he pouted. He ran a finger over the protruding lip, memorizing the satin feel of the skin. It was going to be a long week.

Gathering together all the strength of his decades as a Jedi Master, Qui-Gon lifted himself up off the eager body of his Padawan and started shrugging his cloak on over his shoulders. If he used a Force run through the halls, he just might make it on time...

"I miss you all ready, Master."

Qui-Gon looked over his shoulder, and his force of will almost evaporated at the sight. His Padawan, his lover, his soon to be lifemate was still naked despite the lateness of the morning. His amber eyes glittered in the golden light spilling in through the uncovered window. His body markings were touched with gold, sparkling as though he were painted with glitter. Unabashed, he stretched out over the sleepcouch, purring deep in his throat, exuding enough erotic energy to make Yoda's gimmerstick melt. He didn't look like a Padawan at all, let alone a Jedi, what with his smooth, dual-coloured striped skin and crown of horns. But Qui-Gon still loved the young man. More than his own life. He couldn't ever imagine his life without him.

Qui-Gon swallowed, looking for words. "Padawan--Maul, I love you, but--"

"Duty calls," Maul interrupted. He sighed, finally breaking eye contact to roll over onto his back, his face looking up to the ceiling. "We are Jedi," Maul spoke quietly, his deep voice twisted to a mocking monotone, "and it is our duty to guard the galaxy from evil monsters lurking in the closet tra la la."

"'Tra la la'? Funny, I don't remember that being part of the Code."

Yellow eyes turned sardonic. "Funny, I don't remember you ever reading the Code."

Qui-Gon lifted his hand, pulling his cloak close around him. "Truce, my love."

Maul smiled, but nodded in accordance. "Truce." His eyes suddenly turned serious, the amber darkening to a shadowed-honey glow. "Come back to me," Maul said, his voice serious.

"Always." Qui-Gon closed the distance between them and kissed his Padawan full on the mouth. Too soon he pulled away. "Routine mission. Escort Chancellor Valorum to Gaheris Prime and back again. Easy."

Maul shook his head, his eyes almost glittering in the golden light. "Nothing's ever that easy. Just...just come back to me."

Qui-Gon answered with another kiss, this one longer, deeper, almost frantic as Maul took over. It was as though his Padawan was trying to memorize his taste, the feel of his lips. But it was Maul who broke the kiss, and Maul who turned his head away.

"I love you," Maul whispered, disengaging Qui-Gon's arms from his body.

Qui-Gon slowly slipped out of the bed. "I love you, too." Maul didn't look at him as he went to the door. "I'll come back to you," Qui-Gon said, then he shut the door.

"No, you won't," Maul whispered to himself. He turned on his side, looking out at the traffic that glinted dizzyingly in the fast-moving traffic. His gaze blurred, and he blinked away the tears that threatened to fall.

Outside the door, Qui-Gon sprinted down the corridor towards the turbolifts at hyperspeed. He'd only be a few minutes late. They would wait for him. He just wasn't looking forward to explaining it to Mace.

****

Maul was sitting on the sleepcouch in his leggings and undertunic, tightening the casing of his lightsaber, when Qui-Gon entered their bedroom. Instead of looking up, Maul seemed to curl up into himself, his shoulders rolling forward as he bent over his work. Even his horns seemed to droop slightly when Qui-Gon entered the room. It wasn't the welcome he'd been expecting, but then it wasn't the trip he's expected either. He'd been with Maul since the boy was nine, rescued from an abandoned building right here on Coruscant. They'd been lovers since he grew to adulthood, and in two days they had planned to bond permanently. He shouldn't be feeling like such a...stranger around him.

"Maul. I--I--You've heard the reports?"

The bend head nodded, once, the hands slightly trembling as they busied themselves with the lightsaber.

"There was an...accident." Qui-Gon's grimaced at the euphemism. "A mistake was made--the transport crashed on Gaheris Minor. There were injuries..."

How to explain it? The shock of the water landing, the cries of those who suffered burns, broken limbs, the jagged debris falling, striking, drowning...

"No one died, but so few of us were uninjured. Mace had a broken leg and his arm was unusable. Valorum, some guards, and myself--we were the only ones with minor injuries."

Minor, as in a mild gash, or burns that could be soothed in the cool water. Bacta was for the one who lost whole areas of skin. The only Jedi on board were Mace, Qui-Gon, and Mace's new Padawan.

"We, ah, found him floating just a little ways away from the crash site. He had a support brace impaled through his body."

The boy was ashen white, his hands spasming around his midsection as he tried to pull on the pike of metal, to stop the blood, to do something about the lancing pain in his body. He looked like a bug pinned down and put on display. So hurt. So lost.

"He was going to die, and all for a stupid mistake. I couldn't let him...die."

Hardly fourteen years old, hardly starting his life as a Jedi, and already so close to death. Laying his hands on the boy's forehead, feeling his pulse beating strong, as though his body was denying the inevitable. Fighting--the boy was a fighter. Holding him steady, letting the Living Force flow through his body and into the boy's as Valorum and a guard pulled out the support brace. The scream--the scream was horrible.

"We had the bacta to heal him, but he had to hold on and let it work. I--I couldn't--I had to..."

It felt so natural, so right. Like a puzzle piece finally clicking into place, or a fuel conversion equation finally making sense. The bond Qui-Gon used to feed the boy energy seemed to move, to strengthen. Something clicked--

"You formed a lifebond to save his life," Maul completed for Qui-Gon, saying the words that were so painful to them both.

"Yes."

The boy gasped a deep breath, choked. For a moment the bond between them faltered. The boy was dying--and then, he wasn't. Like a filament coming to life the bond between them flared. Warmth crept into the skin under Qui-Gon's palms, but what's more, there was a doubling of consciousness--he could FEEL the boy's thoughts, his mind, his pain. His life.

Qui-Gon cleared his throat, the pain of remembering almost as much of an agony as it was to tell Maul the truth. "He is recovering now. The Healers think he might be able to walk again, to continue his life as a Jedi. He is strong, but he needs me."

Maul nodded again, his fingers finally still on the silver casing of his lightsaber.

'He understands, of course he understands,' Qui-Gon thought to himself. The lifebond was necessary to save his life. It was permanent--as long as one lived, both would live. Maul had to understand that.

"What is his name?" Maul asked. His usually melodious voice was flat, the energetic purr gone from the syllables.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi." Saying his name brought the boy's face to mind. The cool sea-changing eyes, the red-brown hair cropped short in the style of all Padawans--except Maul, who had no hair, and no training braid. Obi-Wan, who looked just like a Jedi should. Who needed Qui-Gon now as much as he needed life. Already Qui-Gon could feel the need to be with Obi-Wan, to hold his lifemate's hand in his own and reassure himself that the boy was indeed alive.

It was hard to believe that he had ever lived his life without the young Padawan.

"Obi-Wan will need a lot of care in the coming months. I have--I--" //Just say it, Jinn.// "The Council has granted me permission to take him as my Padawan. They agree that his training could be best completed with his lifemate. Mace has already stepped down."

Qui-Gon kneeled down on the floor next to the bed, trying to look up at Maul's face. The younger man turned away from him, refusing to meet his gaze. "You're more than ready to take the Trials. The Council will recognize you as a Jedi Knight."

Maul nodded his head. "I'll report to Master Yoda in the morning." His voice was still flat, but it wasn't as hollow as it was before. Maul was a Jedi, almost exceeding Qui-Gon's skills at everything even at such a young age. He was strong, and he would survive.

Qui-Gon stood, gripping Maul's shoulder soundly. "You will be a great Jedi Knight, Maul. I am sorry that..." Qui-Gon trailed off, searching for the right words. "It was the will of the Force. You'll see. It was meant to be like this."

Maul nodded again, still not looking at Qui-Gon.

"I'll be staying in the Medical Quarters until Obi-Wan can move to the rooms. I'm sure the Council will see that you have new quarters." Qui-Gon gripped his shoulder again, then let go, turning away to leave. His Padawan needed him in the Med-room.

"Good bye, Maul," Qui-Gon said, hardly turning his head back to the young man on the bed.

"Good bye, Qui-Gon." Maul turned towards his Master, his face shining with the uncontrolled tears that stung his eyes. He watched as the dark-clad back disappeared behind the sliding of the door.

His black and red fingers closed over the grips of his lightsaber, clutching spasmodically. //The will of the Force. The will of the Force.// The Force had warned him that his Qui-Gon would never return, would never lifebond with him. He had thought the man would die on a mission, or would be somehow lost in the vastness of space. He was prepared for that. Maul had never thought the Force to be so evil as to let Qui-Gon return to him--bonded to another.

//The will of the Force.//

"Fuck the Force!" Maul yelled, activating his lightsaber. Twin energy spikes came to life, humming and twirling in the air with a deadly grace. No other Jedi dared to have a dual-ended lightsaber, none but Maul. One mistake and it could mean his death. Maul whirled the blades around his body, faster and faster, throwing it and catching it with his hands until everything around him was tinted with the red-glow blur of his weapon.

Something hot was burning in his chest, as painful as a laserburn. Growling deeply, Maul stopped the spinning, turning around to slice the weapon through the bed. It cut through the thick mattress and the board beneath cleanly, the fabric smoking from the laser's heat. Not pausing, he brought the weapon up to score a long, deep mark through the white wall.

The destruction felt good; the tight, hot pain in his chest letting go a little as he bisected the shelf where he and Qui-Gon used to place their lightsabers. Moving like he'd never moved before, Maul worked his way through the room, destroying the evidence of his old life with his Master, his lover...HIS Qui-Gon. The clothes, the wilderness packs, the ring of Memory Stones on the dresser--all of it was melted, sheared, torn and pierced.

Panting, Maul surveyed the work. The fumes of burnt fabric and plastics stung his nose and eyes, but there were no more tears left. There was nothing but this--rage.

"Fuck the Force."

The only thing not destroyed was Maul's cloak. Even his boots were in smoking shreds on the floor. He slipped the cloak over him, pulling it close to his chest as he fisted his lightsaber, hiding it in the sleeve.

If the Force was so...capricious as this, then Maul wanted nothing more to do with it.

Avoiding the still smoldering areas of the floor, Maul picked his way barefoot through the ruins of his former life. Just as he was about to activate the door, something glittered at his foot, catching his eye. Bending down, Maul saw that it was a silver earstud. Qui-Gon had given it to him when he first promised to lifebond with Maul. Closing his eyes, Maul could again see the Jedi's face, his pure blue eyes so happy, so sure of himself. 'Always together,' Qui-Gon had said. 'Always.'

"Always." Maul lifted the stud to his ear; it slipped easily into the hole, the clasp at the back holding it in place.

"You may have forgotten, Qui-Gon, but I will always remember," Maul swore to the empty room. "One day, I'll make you remember too."

Then Maul pressed his palm to the doorlock, and stepped into the hallway.

**Author's Note:**

> The challenge, as the Emu presented it:
> 
> > Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan have agreed that they love each  
> > other, and want to form a life bond, but they haven't bonded  
> > yet. Obi-Wan goes out one day and gets caught in a Plot  
> > Device where a friend, or fellow Jedi (someone he already  
> > knows) is injured, and the only way to save them is to form a  
> > life bond with that person. So he does. Obi-Wan has to go  
> > back to Qui-Gon and break the news that he has a new  
> > partner.


End file.
